New Delhi: The book “Right of Passage,” a compilation of identified ‘corridors’ in ten elephant bearing states in the country was released today by the Hon’ble Union Minister for Environment & Forests (MoEF) Thiru A Raja at India International Center in New Delhi.

Published by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), the book will serve as a ready reckoner for formulating future conservation actions in these crucial corridors. Vivek Menon, Executive Director, Dr. P. S. Easa, Sr. Director, Dr. Sandeep Kr. Tiwari, Sr. Programme Officer of WTI and R. Sukumar of the Asian Elephant Research and Conservation Centre (AERCC) edited the book.

Shri R. P. Katwal, Addl. Director General Wildlife and Dr. R. B. Lal, IG Wildlife were present on the occassion. Senior officials from the MoEF, elephant researchers, sister NGOs and wildlife enthusiasts participated in the event.

Releasing the book Thiru A. Raja said, “Elephant has been a part of our culture and we love and revere it and consider it as the symbol of size, strength and intelligence. We are so much associated with this animal that it has become an integral part of our temples, mosques, churches thus becoming a symbol of communal harmony.”

“One major issue of the Project Elephant is human-elephant conflict. The conflict situations lead to the death of several elephants as a result of poisoning, electrocution or firing by the affected people. We had been trying all possible measures to mitigate the problem by erecting electric fences, stone walls and digging trenches around human habitations. But I understand that the root cause of conflict is the fragmentation or degradation of habitat often forcing the elephants to come in contact with the habitations within and on the fringes.” He adds.

The book documents the current status of elephant corridors in terms of geographical coordinates, vegetation, land-use, biotic pressures, human artifacts and conservation approach for its protection. The corridor maps and prioritization of the corridors would help the wildlife officials to determine its importance and feasibility for securing the corridors.  It outlines the future scope of conservation actions for securing these habitats.

The book is an outcome of field surveys from 2001 to 2004 by WTI and in south India with its partner AERCC, to evaluate the viability of these corridors for elephant conservation. Various officials of the state forest departments, prominent NGOs dealing in similar subject and scientists have been consulted for short-listing the corridors for the purpose of the study. A pre-designed format was used and the identified corridors were marked on a 1:50,000 topographical map. A final verification of the corridors was made by senior scientists of the two organizations.

Eighty-eight elephant corridors have been identified during the “ground truthing” process across the country. Of these, 12 are in the northwestern India, 20 in central India, 14 in northern west Bengal, 22 in northeastern India and 20 in southern India.

About 77% of the corridors are being regularly used by elephants. About one-third (30%) are of ecologically high priority and 67% are of medium priority. Fragmentation of elephant habitat was most severe in the northern west Bengal, northwestern India and central India. The fragmentation was least in southern India.

About 28.5% of the corridors in the country are of a kilometer or below in length. However, on a regional basis, 65% of the corridors in southern India are of this size. Further 65% of the corridors in south India are under the Protected Area Network or Reserve Forests. In central India 90% of the corridors are under forest, agriculture and human settlements. On a country basis, merely 24% of the corridors were found to be under the complete forest cover. Similarly, 23% of the corridors are without any major human settlements.

The AERCC, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) are the other three partners in the project.

WTI hopes that this report will provide the much-needed data in the process of securing and acquiring the corridors. Consolidating landscapes and strengthening the existing corridors would be crucial for long term conservation of many wild species. It recommends that state governments formally declare these areas as elephant corridors of the state and bring them under the legal protection.

The report would be useful to various institutions, including the central and state governments, national and international conservation NGOs, researchers and donors to look forward from this stage of endorsement to the stage of protection.

Pix credit: WTI